The Trial Lawyer’s Section annually conducts the prestigious Chester H. Bedell Mock Trial Competition for mock trial teams from Florida’s accredited law schools. Each school is invited to send two teams to the competition, which is held over three days and culminates with a final round presided over by a distinguished Federal or State court judge.
For a list of past winners of the Bedell competition, see below.
1983 Stetson: Randy Brennan, Thomas DeCarlo, Mirella Murphy
1984 FSU: Peter Kramer, Jeff Lewis
1985 Stetson: Carol Engel Draper, Stephen Hurm
1986 Stetson: John Higgins, Stephen Hurm, Carl B. Lyle
1987 Stetson: Lawrence J. Najem, Brent Rose
1988 Stetson: Carol McMurry, Charles Samarkos
1989 Stetson: Carol McMurry, Charles Samarkos
1990 Stetson: Marie L. DeMarco, Douglas T. Noah, Jennifer S. Eden
1991 Stetson: Grady C. Irvin Jr., Amy L. Koltnow, Adam R. Littman
1992 Stetson: Grady C. Irvin Jr., Earl M. Johnson, Patrick L. Real
1993 Stetson: Jaime Eagan, Jennifer Gentry, Michael Rachel
1994 UF: Elizabeth McCosky, Paul McLester
1995 Stetson: Thomas Harmon, Julie Fox, Kenneth Gerber
1996 Stetson: Lee Coppock, Tiffany Koogler, Jason Recksiedler
1997 Stetson: Chasity Brooks, Gregory Huber, Tiffany Koogler
1998 FSU: Scott Danahy, Earnest DeLoach Jr., Yulanda Dortch, Lisa Hurley, Gladys Ayala
1999 FSU: Gladys Ayala, Earnest DeLoach Jr., Francisco Touron, Ginger Barry, Jimmy Price
2000 Stetson: Kim Dunn, Daniel S. Green, Mariela Llanez, Chinwe Okpechi
2001 UF: Harley Brook, Natasha Mayne, Natasha Thomas, Betty Toussaint
2002 UF: Paula Ferres, Fermin Lopez, Anthony Sos, Betty Toussaint
2003 UF: Bradley Harper, Shawntoyia Grier, Yolanda Green, Yohance Pettis
2004 Stetson: Scott Slater, Joel Elsea, Gabrielle Osborne, Jason Turner
2005 UF: Chris King, Paul Vicary, Najan Gibson, Greg Edwards
2006 Stetson: Arturo Rios, Angie Torrents, Senovia Lance, Ruel Smith
2007 Stetson: Johanna Castellon, Matt Easterwood, Anthony Wilson, Rachel Wood
2008 University of Miami: Jocelyn S. Brown, Sarah B. King, Christopher M. Lomax, Jonathan Weiss
2009 Stetson: Jamie Grant, Christian Radley, Katelyn Knaak, George Root
2010 UF: Dana Disano, Robert Hogan, Kevin Sharbaugh, Melissa Welsh
2011 St. Thomas: Bill McHugh, Bryan Paschal, Lincoln Atten, Joey McCall, Jennifer Pena
2012 Stetson: Morgan Anderson, Julian Catala, Kristin S. Johnson, Jared T. Williams
2013 Stetson: Claudette Goyanes Fornuto, Diego F. Novaes, Adriane F. Ovcharenko, Brandon Blake
2014 Stetson: Stanton Fears, Megan A. Fernandez, Victoria San Pedro, R. Rockwell Seay Sr.
2015 Barry: Luis Herrera, James Smeriglio III, William Sepulveda, Nikki Metzgar-Schall, Jackson Lubin
2016 FIU: Jaclyn Broudy, Michelle Deeb, Elroy John, Arvind Singh, Gemma Torcivia
2017 Stetson: Colby Connell, Kaitlyn Dugas, Joe Sise, Skylar Stewart
2018 University of Florida: Conor Milo, Natasha Moghadam, David Sutton, and Allie Watson
2019 Stetson: Grace Samarkos, Lamark McGreen, Magan Tiralosi and Elise Engle